Dallas, Columbus move into top 10 in MarketWatch study of metro regions

For the second year in a row, the Twin Cities region stayed at the top of MarketWatch's list of best metro areas for business, based on results from a variety of sources. While a number of other players shifted around in the standings, and a couple fell out of the top 10, Minneapolis-St. Paul lost a little bit in the scoring. But the area still outdistanced its closest competitor, Boston, by more than 20 points.

Last year, the Twin Cities was at the top of MarketWatch's list in the first annual survey of where companies tend to gravitate and create the most jobs. It appears little has changed for the region, as the concentration of companies has stayed strong, and job growth continues while unemployment remains relatively low.

The Twin Cities area has a baker's dozen of public and private firms with sales of more than $10 billion, up from 12 a year ago. But the region also is friendly to small business, as it garnered the top ranking among all metro areas in that category.

How is it possible for a frigid northern outpost to attract the talent it needs to support the region's massive business community? It's not always easy, locals concede.

"Why is it hard to get people here? Because they expect snow to be blowing in July," said Douglas Baker, chairman and chief executive at Ecolab Inc.
ECL, -0.25%
based in St. Paul.

It typically takes 60 to 90 days to close the deal with a potential executive, according to Tom Valerius, vice president of recruitment services for Minneapolis-based UnitedHealth Group Inc.
UNH, +0.70%
the country's biggest health insurer.

"You sell them on the job, and then you sell them on the Twin Cities," Valerius said. "Usually, at the end of the day, the big sell is on the spouse, more than the executive."

The area has managed to attract enough talent to support those two firms, as well as such legacy companies as industrial conglomerate 3M Co.
MMM, -0.15%
food heavyweight General Mills Inc.
GIS, -0.09%
insurer Travelers Cos.
TRV, -0.36%
and financial powerhouse U.S. Bancorp.
USB, +0.33%

The Twin Cities are also home to retail giants Target Corp.
TGT, -0.10%
and Best Buy Co.
BBY, +0.53%
medical-device makers Medtronic Inc.
MDT, +0.14%
and St. Jude Medical
STJ, -0.12%
and big private firms Cargill and CHS. Cargill has replaced Kansas chemical maker Koch Industries at the very top of Forbes' rankings of the nation's biggest private firms.

There are a few vulnerable companies in the region, to be sure; Northwest Airlines
NWA
is one. But the Twin Cities ticked up slightly in the rankings of concentration of Russell 2000 companies, so the region seems prepared to handle whatever economic onslaught may be on tap.

Many of the region's companies are home-grown and have thrived in the environment. UnitedHealth, for example, was started in 1974 and now boasts $80 billion in annual sales.

Other companies have deeper roots, such as Traveler's in St. Paul, which got its start in 1853. It's been sustained in part by a highly ranked school system and the network of higher-education providers in the region.

"It's a very educated workforce," said Andy Bessette, Traveler's chief administrative officer. "The people here, the school systems, are very good."

In the MarketWatch rankings, Minneapolis-St. Paul ended up with 324 points overall, down five points from the 329 it notched last year. It was in the top 10 in five of the eight categories studied, and it was just one spot out of the top 10 in concentration of Russell 2000 companies.

The Twin Cities were in the middle of the pack of 50 metro areas studied -- those with roughly 1 million in population or more -- in population growth and job growth. It lost a little ground in the unemployment average but still ranked high.

The rest of the top 10:

2. Boston -- 302 points: Beantown was ranked fourth a year ago but moved up by 19 points due to better rankings in concentration of Fortune 1000 and S&P 500 companies, as well as small businesses. Boston also climbed the ranks in the jobless category but remained in the bottom 10 in population growth.

Among the local companies that boosted its rankings: PerkinElmer Inc.
PKI, +2.92%
made it into the Fortune 1000, along with Beacon Roofing Supply Inc.
BECN, +1.07%
And different metrics on jobless rates aided its rankings.

Like Minneapolis-St. Paul, Boston benefits from a workforce that's often been trained at the area's dozens upon dozens of higher-learning institutions, including the venerable Harvard University and the highly regarded Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as Boston University, the city's No. 4 employer.

That's helped the Hub City create a wide diversity of companies in health care, finance, higher education, high tech and tourism.

"It really is the skilled workforce that drives these industries," said Tim Sweeney, director of public policy at the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. "Having that balance [of firms] has really helped us to sustain the economy."

3. Denver -- 297 points: Denver got a better score this year but fell to third place from last year's second ranking as Boston shot up the charts in several categories.

Denver maintained most of the scores it achieved a year ago, losing a few points in some categories but making that up elsewhere. Three local firms were added to the Forbes list of top private companies, including financial firm First Data Corp., building-materials company Pro-Build Holdings, and resource manager MWH. This was the main reason the region's score was up from the 291 it posted a year ago.

4. Washington -- 282 points: The nation's capital was one of several cities to benefit from an expanded check of small-business data in the survey. Washington moved up 11 places in that category as MarketWatch ranked cities on four separate small-business parameters provided by the Department of Commerce.

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